By Sarah Laing
Professor Goldman on our first day in Rome! | Photo by Anam Siddiq.
ROME — The wonderful thing about a sleepless night, mixed with jetlag and a healthy dose of mid-semester exhaustion, is that it produces a wonderfully random first impression of Rome.
The flight was (thankfully) a fairly uneventful experience, and we arrived en masse at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, where we were welcomed with open arms by Professor Goldman. The ride out from the airport was initially unimpressive, Neha Prakash going so far as to remark that it felt like she was in New Jersey. Brandon Gates even began concocting conspiracy theories involving a plane circling New York for 8 hours, but an ancient Roman highway weaving between stuccoed houses finally convinced us of our genuine Italian location.
Professor Goldman had described our hotel as “adequate,” which we interpreted as “may or may not have a roof or been cleaned since Caesar Augustus’ day.” Luckily, we found he was under-selling the charms of Hotel Emmaus, which overlooks St Peter’s Square and includes a genuine-old-school cage elevator. In the room occupied by Ines, Teresa and myself, we had a wonderful “I’m in Italy” moment, opening our Venetian shutters and looked out upon the sun streaming over Rome’s rooftops.
The Religio team, delirious at the airport in Roma. | Photo by Anam Siddiq.
Our itinerary kicked off with an introduction to one of our hosts, Ashley Naronha, who bestowed upon all 16 of us state-of-the-art touring technology. The devices –radio receivers and headsets – meant to allow us to hear our guide while in the busy city streets. I’ll leave it to another chronicler to deliver the final verdict on this innovation.
I’ll also leave it to the guide books to give a run down of our whirl-win tour of the Capitoline Hill, which took us from Castor and Pollux to Gilat Shalit to Vestal Virgins and back again. After a molto rapido coffee break (and a cappuccino whose praises Anne Cohen could sing for 5,000 words), it was time to head into the Jewish ghetto, a short, sloping cobble stone street away from the Capitoline. After hearing about this area and its history (grazie Professore Stille!) throughout the semester, we were all eager to experience it. At first glance, it looked much like the rest of that part of Rome: – yellow stucco buildings, fragments of a temple ruin sticking out every now and then – but with the notable exception of a white domed building that dominated the skyline.
Michael Wilner and Anne Cohen outside the Roman Synagogue. | Photo by Anam Siddiq.
This was the Great Synagogue of Rome, and on a Friday evening, we were here to attend the Sabbath service. As the sunny afternoon turned into a chilly twilight, we mobilized to pass the “security check point” at the synagogue gates. We surrendered our passports, and were called up one by one to a table, where our bags were stripped of any electronic device that would not be considered a “Sabbath item.”
The most striking thing about the service was the physical beauty of the synagogue. With ornate gilding and stained glass to rival the greatest churches, a soaring dome drew the eye heavenward. Being female, I watched the service from an upstairs balcony, my view obstructed by an ornate metal grille. I don’t think many of us, women or men, could claim to understand much of the substance of the service, since it was unamplified and entirely in Hebrew. But an atmosphere of solemn worship spoke volumes.
After the Great Synagogue, Day One ended with two hours of deliciousness at our Shabbat dinner, held at a famous Jewish restaurant in the ghetto. Many of us ate deep-fried artichoke for the first time, savoured spaghetti with spinach, and washed down tasty with red wine. The highlight of the meal wasn’t the food however, it was Professor Goldman’s matchless rendition of the Sabbath blessing.
And with that…I think it’s time to rest.
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